The Key
by BeautifulMissLulu
Summary: The search for the key to a mysterious temple brings unexpected results.
1. Default Chapter

Slayers The Key by ZelgadisGreywood Disclaimer: I don't own them. I can't afford Lina. ------------------------------------ -Chapter One- ------------------  
  
"So," Lina inverse said, to the man sitting across from her at the table. "What you're saying is that if we join our powers, we'll be able to unlock the Golden Temple?"  
  
"You don't need a spell, just join your powers," the man told her.  
  
"Very interesting," Zelgadis remarked as he joined them.  
  
"I'll say. So it's the magic itself, not the spell that we need."  
  
"It says, the right combination will create something that will be the key to opening the temple."  
  
"Well, let's start trying," Lina cheered.  
  
*****  
  
A hundred or so explosions later, it was once again Lina and Gourry's turn to make the attempt. Their magic flowed, encircled each other, and for a time seemed to work. Then, flowers began to pop up in Gourry's power and Lina's power became a fire which incinerated the flowers.  
  
"Well, that didn't work," Xelloss observed. "Next."  
  
"Our turn," Zelgadis and Amelia stepped forward. Their energies combined, their powers increasing in tandem until the two streams of power coalesced into a large stone sphere the same color as Zelgadis's stone skin.  
  
"What is that?" Lina blinked.  
  
"I don't know, Miss Lina." Amelia admitted, looking to Zelgadis in hope of learning the answer from him.  
  
Zelgadis merely shrugged.  
  
"Oh my," Xelloss pondered, amusedly. "I don't know what you'll achieve with a mere geode, no matter how big it is. Plus, it's so large, there's no way to get it up the mountain and into the temple."  
  
Lina looked over at the setting sun. "It's getting late. Let's get some sleep, and we'll try again in the morning." 


	2. chapter 2

Slayers The Key by ZelgadisGreywood Disclaimer: I don't own them. I can't afford Lina. ------------------------------------ -Chapter Two- ------------------  
  
Amelia woke the next morning, and found herself staring at the remnants of the geode.   
  
"WHA...?!" She leapt up in alarm. "Mr. Zelgadis! Miss Lina! Mr. Gourry! It's broken!"  
  
"Well," Lina shrugged. "Nothing we can do about that now. Let's concentrate on getting into the temple."  
  
"Maybe if we go there," Amelia offered, "there will be something about what kind of power is needed."  
  
"That sounds like a good idea," Gourry agreed.  
  
The foursome were met by a shock when they got to the topmost step.  
  
The gate was open.  
  
"But I thought that man said only something that combined the magic of two people could open the temple." Amelia said.  
  
"Well, if something can override a temple's magic, it's probably very powerful. So let's be very careful." Lina went silent as she and the others walked into the open temple.  
  
The sight that met there eyes was one that made them all go slackjawed with shock.  
  
A girl, no more than six years old in appearance, was praying, quietly, in the middle of the temple.  
  
She was naked, but undisturbed by her lack of clothing, as if she had no become accustomed to such things.  
  
Her hair was long and with streaks of blue and black, she had one human eye and one demon eye, and her skin, though clearly made of stone and pebbles, seemed to be made of polished white marble rather than slate.  
  
Zelgadis wasted no time in removing his cloak and covering the child with it.  
  
"Who is she?" Gourry wanted to know. "Where did she come from?"  
  
Zelgadis looked meaningfully at Amelia. "I think she came from the geode." he reasoned.  
  
"Then you mean...?!" Amelia squeaked.  
  
Zelgadis nodded. "That child is our daughter, Amelia." 


	3. Chapter 3

Slayers The Key by ZelgadisGreywood Disclaimer: I don't own them. I can't afford Lina. ------------------------------------ -Chapter Three-  
  
"Huh?!" Amelia blinked. "Our daughter?! But, Mr. Zelgadis, we're not even married yet."  
  
"It's not as if she was created in the normal way," Zelgadis reassured Amelia.  
  
"Rather an unusual girl." Xelloss remarked. "Quite a unique chimera. One third Zelgadis, one third Amelia, and one third Claire Bible."  
  
"What do you mean 'one third Claire Bible'?" Zelgadis asked. "Surely this child's mind doesn't contain...?!"  
  
"The whole Claire Bible?" Xelloss raised an eyebrow. "Of course not. Only a small portion of it. And we won't know which part until she learns how to speak."  
  
"Learns how to speak?" Zelgadis asked.  
  
"Well, she was just born," Lina reminded them. "Don't worry. I bet she'll learn to talk really fast, won't you?"  
  
The chimera child nodded, enthusiastically. She understood perfectly well, even if she could not yet reply. In time, she would be able to. But for now, they would just have to be patient with her. 


	4. Chapter 4

Slayers The Key by ZelgadisGreywood Disclaimer: I don't own them. I can't afford Lina. ------------------------------------ -Chapter Four-  
  
Amelia sat by the child she and Zelgadis had created. She hadn't expected to become a mother so young, out of wedlock. To many people of the lands she travelled it wasn't such a big idea. But she was a princess of Seiruun and she had certain morals to observe. The child had not been created by the standard method, however, so her birth had not been a shameful one, even if she and Zelgadis were not married.  
  
"So," she said to the little girl. "Um... erm...?" She was stuck here. What did one say to a newborn who was apparently seven. The usual talk reserved for the newly born seemed rather silly and even insulting here.  
  
Zelgadis did not need to think of what to ask. "Can you cure me?" he asked her, hopefully. "Do you know how I can be cured?"  
  
The child looked at him in confusion. He didn't look sick. So why was he asking for a cure? She wished she knew how to convey her bewilderment to the chimera.  
  
The girl glomped onto Zelgadis and for a moment, he expected her touch to heal him. There was no change in his body, however, and he frowned.  
  
"If you're trying to mend my heart, little one," he told her, "you're wasting your time. My heart is something that is unmendable. I am a heartless sorcerer-swordsman. My will is made of stone, just like the rest of me."  
  
The child turned, confusedly, to her mother. What the man had been saying wasn't what she had sensed from him. She had felt loneliness, pain, regret, and love toward the woman who sat there with them. But he denied himself that love, even though the young woman offered her own love freely to him. She wished there was some quick fix to make it all better for both of them, but what knowledge she had inherited from the Claire Bible did not tell her how to bring happiness to stubborn chimeras who insisted on moping around and feeing sorry for themselves.  
  
"So," Lina managed to find the only sensible thing to say to the little girl. "Whaddaya want to eat?"  
  
The girl perked up. Now here, she thought, was a question that she knew the answer to. She wanted to try a lot of different things. She wanted to sample the meats and taste the desserts. This was her first meal, and she didn't know what she liked yet. She would have to try everything and work out which things tasted best to her.  
  
Lina smiled. "Tell ya what. There's a great restaurant in town. Let's get what we came here to get and then we'll go."  
  
The child looked apprehensive. She didn't think this odd but nice woman should be taking things from this place that weren't hers.  
  
Lina went into the temple. She was about to pick up the jewel she'd come for when she felt a tugging on her pants leg.  
  
Looking down, she saw the child shaking her head in disapproval.  
  
"Look, kid," she said. "I travelled a long time to get this thing. Now let me just put it in my pocket and we'll go get a bite to eat. Okay?"  
  
The little girl gave Lina a look that Lina was sure had been meant to make her feel guilty.  
  
"It ain't workin', kid." Lina told her. "I want that gem and I'm gonna have it. Now, just stand back."  
  
The child pounced on Lina, not very well since she wasn't entirely accustomed to using the muscles in her legs, yet, and bit her leg.  
  
"FIRE..." Lina began.  
  
"NO!" Zelgadis snatched the child away from Lina. "Don't you dare hurt my daughter."  
  
"Shame on you, Miss Lina!" Amelia scolded. "Picking on a little girl."  
  
"She started it!" Lina wailed. 


End file.
